More Mobile: The New Setup (Premium)

Thanks to some Amazon gift cards and the Black Friday sale, I’ve upgraded my more mobile computing setup pretty significantly. Here’s a quick peek.

I wrote about my purchases a few days back in More Mobile: Black Friday (Premium). I wont burden you with more affiliate links here, but I did make two more small purchases since posting that, both noted below, and all of my items have now arrived. But the total cost, including Black Friday discounts, was almost exactly $200. And because I had a bit more than that in Amazon gift cards, there was no out-of-pocket cost for any of this, which is nice.

Upfront, let me just point out that two of the items---the Anker Power Strip with USB-C and the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Wireless Desktop Set (which is no longer on sale)---aren’t being used at the moment. I will always travel with the former going forward, and I’ll open the keyboard/mouse box when my current set fails. I explained the rationale behind both of these purchases in the previous post.

Anyway, the biggest change here is the Lifelong Ergonomic Laptop Stand, which is a significant upgrade over the Nexstand Portable Laptop Stand I had been using since I started this experiment back in September. (Well, now it’s just how I work, so it’s not really an experiment anymore.) At first, I paired the Nexstand with a 15-inch laptop, a loaner Thunderbolt 3 dock, and the normal set of peripherals I’d be using with a desktop PC.

A lot has changed since then. I continued to minimize the number of items I had to keep on my desk---I even minimized the desk, in that I switched to a smaller one---and I’ve rotated between several different laptops of varying sizes (typically 14-inches but also at least one with a 13.3-inch display). I also purchased a USB-C hub, replacing that dock with something that is more compatible and more portable. (And that I actually own.)

As I noted previously, I like the portability of the Nexstand, but I’d had my eye on the Lifelong Ergonomic Laptop Stand that I just purchased for a long time. I had just never pulled the trigger because it was so expensive, at $120. And it wasn’t critical in the short-term: the Nexstand does the job. But with Black Friday upon us this past week, I discovered that it was on sale for basically half-off, and I was delighted to see that The Wirecutter selected it as a top laptop stand pick for those that need a taller stand, as I do for ergonomic reasons. And it even supports 17-inch laptops. You never know.

Pulling the new laptop stand out of its box, I was first struck by how heavy and dense it felt: it weighs 4.36 pounds, which is on the low end of the weight range for a typical 15-inch laptop. (The HP Envy 15 that’s currently sitting on it weighs 4.74 pounds.) And it took some effort to pull it open, which I took as proof that it’s well made and sturdy. Which it is.

I was also delighted by the height adjustment, which I find to be both easy to use and...